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Biography of Care Experienced People Just us Gabrielle Carey 1984 Just Us, tells the story of a romance between a prisoner and a journalist. Terry Haley had been in institutions from the time he was 8. Haley was serving a sentence for abduction and rape in 1972 when he escaped from Yatala Prison in South Australia. He was in Parramatta Gaol when Gabrielle Carey, a journalist, met and fell in love with him. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Daffodils - Audiobook Louise Beech 2022 Content warning: suicide 2019. Dawn. The River Humber. A misty February walk. Surprise early daffodils. A picture taken. Then forgotten. Because five hours later, my world shattered. My mother jumped off the Humber Bridge. Had those yellow flowers not delayed me, I might have been there. Could I have stopped her? In the aftermath of this violent act, I turned to my writing, to my beloved siblings, to our only uncle. I was forced to look at events that led to this suicide attempt. At relationships wrecked by alcoholism. At chronic depression. At our care records. At my childhood. At my mother. At buried trauma never fully explored before. At myself.... When I much later found the picture of those surprise daffodils, I knew it was time to write about that day. I began typing the story that inspired so many of my fictional characters, that shaped the testing things they endured. My own story. External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors Nothing Natural Jenny Diski 1986 Nothing Natural is the 1986 debut novel by Jenny Diski, initially published in hardback through Simon & Schuster. It follows a young woman who enters into a sadomasochistic relationship with a charming and domineering man. The book, perceived as an S&M-book by the New Yorker, received some backlash upon its release, as critic Anthony Thwaite criticized it as being "the most revolting book I've ever read," and the feminist magazine Sisterwrite chose to ban Diski from publishing with them. Rachel Kee is a depressed single mother who has been slowly withdrawing from the world around her. She's still suffering from the lasting effects of a disastrous childhood where her father abandoned his family, pushing Rachel's mother further into madness and prompting Rachel's removal and placement in a foster home. When she meets Joshua, she's almost instantly drawn to him. The two begin to indulge in a sadomasochistic relationship where Joshua will appear for a rough session of sex and then disappear for months on end. Eventually Rachel begins to question the relationship, especially after reading about the kidnapping and rape of a young girl, complete with a composite sketch that greatly resembles Joshua. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Chess Raven Chronicles Violet Grace 2018 The Chess Raven novels are the creation of Australian wife-husband team Kasey Edwards & Christopher Scanlon under the pen name Violet Grace. In The Girl Who Fell (2018), 16-year-old Chess Raven has been in the UK state ‘care’ system since she was 3. Not far into the novel, Chess finds out she is a princess, “Queen in the Ascendant” of House Raven and part Fairy. The Girl Who Chose (2019) continues the story of Chess Raven finding her way in this new reality, including that she is expected to marry Crown Prince Victor of House Grigio. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Elephants Can Remember Agatha Christie 2016 Hercule Poirot is determined to solve an old husband and wife double murder that is still an open verdict…Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. Here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. The bodies of General Alistair Ravenscroft and his wife Molly were found shot dead near their manor house in Overcliffe. Left behind are two orphaned children, including daughter Celia. Ten years later, Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, godmother to Celia, is approached at a literary luncheon by Mrs. Burton-Cox, to whose adopted son Celia Ravenscroft is engaged and asked to investigate who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Does Celia have bad blood? Poirot delves back into the past and discovers that ‘old sin leave long shadows’. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Death of an Avid Reader Frances Brody 2014 Book 6 in the Kate Shackleton mysteries. Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter, born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now, Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Sugarcane London: ‘This is all comfort food’ – restaurant review Tarell Mcintosh 2022 Tarell Mcintosh calls himself Chef Tee. This is the story of how he opened a restaurant during the pandemic and within a few weeks he had enough money to employ four care leavers. Chef Tee grew up in care and wanted to do something for other care leavers. External Website

Children's Fiction The Boy Who Built a Wall Around Himself (4-9 years) Ali Redford 2015 Boy built a wall to keep himself safe. Behind it he felt strong and more protected. Then Someone Kind came along. She bounced a ball, sang and painted on the other side of the wall, and Boy began to wonder if life on the other side might be better after all. Written for children aged 4 to 9, this gentle full-colour picture book uses a simple metaphor to explain how children who have had painful or traumatic experiences can build barriers between themselves and other people. It will help children explore their feelings and encourage communication. External Website

Television Shows Home and Away 1988 The long running Australian soap opera, Home and Away (1988-present), was the inspiration of television screenwriter, director & producer, Alan Bateman. As the story goes, Bateman was in Kangaroo Point NSW when he became aware of locals complaining about foster children moving into the area. He thought this would be an excellent topic to explore and initially the show was going to be called Refuge. Home and Away originally focused on the Fletcher family living in Summer Bay, a fictional seaside town in NSW. Tom (Roger Oakley) and Pippa Fletcher (Vanessa Downing) have been fostering children since 1978. At the end of the first episode, they take in their 6th foster child. While the central stories continue to revolve around fostering children, family and school problems, the series has covered a range of topics including eating disorders, domestic violence and terminal illness. External Website

Performing Arts AUS, Singer, Songwriter Joy McKean Joy McKean (b. 1930) is recognised as one Australia's leading country music songwriters. She wrote many of her husband's - the iconic Slim Dusty - most popular songs. Joy McKean was born in the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Her story is told in the 2020 documentary, Slim and I, in which she talks of the impact of being separated from her family for 3 years from the age of 4 when she was hospitalised with polio. "It made me very different" she says. Joy McKean married Slim Dusty in 1951 and they formed a lasting musical partnership, travelling Australia - including to areas most musicians did not get to - and with their children in tow for much of the time. Joy McKean was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1991 for her service to the entertainment industry. External Website

Actors Barry Evans Barry Joseph Evans (18 June 1943 – 9 February 1997) was an English actor best known for his appearances in British sitcoms such as Doctor in the House and Mind Your Language. Barry Evans was born in Guildford, Surrey. He was abandoned as a baby and grew up in a Barnardo’s home in Twickenham, a suburban town in Middlesex. Evans’ acting ability was recognised while he was still at school. After he left, he won a John Gielgud Scholarship which enabled him to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Evans made his theatre debut in Barrow-in-Furness. He went on to appear in Chips with Everything on Broadway in 1963. He finished his working life as a taxi driver so he could have a regular income. Barry Evans was found dead in his home in Leicestershire. He had received a blow to the head and an 18-year-old man was arrested, but never charged with murder. External Website

Poets JRR Tolkien JRR Tolkien In September 2024, The Collected Poems of JRR Tolkien was published. The 3 volume collections gathers collects most of the poetry that Tolkien is known to have written. The book contains around 240 poems with already published in The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings included. From the publisher: “World first publication of the collected poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, spanning almost seven decades of the author’s life and presented in an elegant three-volume hardback boxed set. J.R.R. Tolkien aspired to be a poet in the first instance, and poetry was part of his creative life no less than his prose, his languages, and his art. Although Tolkien’s readers are aware that he wrote poetry, if only from verses in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, its extent is not well known, and its qualities are underappreciated…” External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience In the Woods Tana French 2007 In the Woods (2007) follows the investigation by two Irish detectives of the murder of a 12-year-old child. One detective, Rob Ryan—who is narrating In the Woods—was sent away to boarding school as a child after being involved in a distressing childhood incident. The other detective, Cassie Maddox, was in kinship care as a child. This story, along with The Likeness, was adapted for the 2019 television series, Dublin Murders. External Website

Films/Videos The Forgotten Maggies 2009 The Forgotten Maggies (2009) is a documentary mad by Irish film maker Steven O’Riordan. The film explores, via interviews with women who had lived experience, the Magdalene Laundries of the 20th century. It focuses on the human rights problems of the State and the Roman Catholic church conspiring to keep these women incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries. External Website

Academic Articles A childhood on paper Managing access to child care files by post-care adults Jim Goddard 2008 A childhood on paper Managing access to child care files by post-care adults. Jim Goddard, Julia Feast & Derek Kirton: For people who have spent part or all of their childhoods in care, access to information about family history and events that have happened during their childhood can offer significant benefits. It can provide a chronological history, explain the reasons for coming into care and help to build a fuller sense of the enquirer’s current identity. While the principle of providing such information has long been recognised, those formerly in care have faced numerous challenges in gaining access to their records. If you can't get access to this article, email: careexpereinceandculture@gmail.com and we'll pass on your request to Jim Goddard, Chair of The Care Leavers' Association. External Website

Actors Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone, born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, July 6, 194, is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Because of his parents' difficult relationship, he spent considerable time in foster care until he was five and moved in with his father. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush. Stallone's Rocky films were box office successes, and he is the only actor in US cinema history to have regularly starred in box office successes over 50 fifty years. External Website

Biography of Care Experienced People Sheila Pamela Morrison 2023 Sheila (2023) by Scottish born Australian writer, Pamela Morrison, begins with unusual twist on the foundling story. Sheila Bell Rattray (1925-1997) began life as a tiny bundle being dropped off at her father’s house in Scotland. Unbeknown to her father’s wife, Agnes, who took the baby in and gently cared for her, Sheila was the result of an adulterous relationship between her husband, David Bell, & a woman who worked for her husband, Margaret Rattray. Sheila was Pamela’s mother and Pamela’s book, Sheila (2023), is the story of her mother’s life. After 3 years in foster care, Sheila spent the rest of her childhood with her father, David Bell, who was brutal. Sheila and her family migrated from Edinburgh to Adelaide in South Australia, arriving in October 1965. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The Looked After Kid Paolo Hewitt 2003 Placed in care at a very early age, Paolo Hewitt went to live with a foster family where he endured extreme abuse and humiliation. Following years of abuse he was sent to Burbank children's home at the age of ten where he met a gang of children. Like him they were outsiders struggling to find their place in the world. External Website

News - broadcast, print, internet, magazine articles The people making a difference: the woman who created a community for fellow adult adoptees The Guardian 2022 In 2013 when Claire Moruzzi began thinking about here experiences as an adoptee, she found there was little in the way of helpful resources. In response, Moruzzi set up a website, How to be Adopted, which acts as both a community for adoptees and a place where tips and other information is shared. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Examining Rita Mae Brown’s “Rubyfruit Jungle” Anna J Haynes 2017 A disucssion about Rita Mae Brown's groundbreaking novel almost 45 years later. External Website